This document is related to sleep monitoring/tracking, and more particularly to a system and method for establishing manageable, verifiable and accurate chain of custody for sleep monitoring/tracking data.
Establishing such chain of custody for sleep regulation is crucial as mandated rest periods for employees become more common. Rest periods fall into three primary categories: those that are required by law; those that are not yet required by law but are garnering public support for implementation (for example, for physicians and other health care workers); and those that employers electively require to promote safer workplaces.
Thus far, increased monitoring/tracking of sleep has proven successful. For example, in the decade ending in 2011 in the trucking industry, large truck crashes declined 26 percent from 5,111 to 3,757, because new sleep research showed that working long hours daily and weekly eventually caused chronic fatigue, slow reaction times and reduced ability to assess situations, including personal fatigue levels. As another example, in 2010 and 2011, federal agencies tightened regulations governing rest periods for both airline pilots and air traffic controllers due to research supporting links between adequate rest and safety. Other transportation industries, including railroad and shipping groups, have voluntarily implemented better policies requiring adequate rest for workers. Some industry groups including the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and the consumer-advocacy group Public Citizen, have been or will be considering whether better sleep and/or rest requirements for health care workers might ultimately benefit both professionals and patients.
Currently, there is no way to effectively monitor compliance with sleep requirements (i.e., whether employees are actually taking mandated rests.) This does not honor the spirit of the law, which is to promote safer environments for workers and the public. It also makes assessing the efficacy of these regulations difficult.
Some trucking companies have “electronic logs” situated near steering wheels, which record when the motor is on or off, whether or not the trucker is off-duty, and gas mileage. These devices prevent truckers from taking unauthorized short-cuts or driving over the speed limit, but they do not track whether drivers are sleeping. In some instances, they are also noisy and distracting.
Some professionals, for example, pilots and physicians, may be mandated or requested to self-report fatigue, sleepiness or exhaustion. However, they may feel professionally pressured to underreport these experiences. Additionally, exhausted individuals may not be able to recognize their own state of exhaustion.
What is needed is a more effective solution than self-reporting or electronic logs.